Singer Jesse Braham argues that the lyrics to his song 'Haters Gone Hate' are substantively similar to the chorus of Swift's track 'Shake It Off'.

Taylor Swift is being sued for copyright infringement by a struggling musician, who claims that the superstar ripped off one of his songs for the lyrics of her mega-hit ‘Shake It Off’.

American R&B singer Jesse Braham alleges that Swift uses substantially the same 22-word phrase she uses in the chorus for her former Number 1 single ‘Shake It Off’ as he did for his 2013 song ‘Haters Gone Hate’. According to legal papers, Braham is claiming copyright infringement of the phrases “haters gone hate” and “playas gone play”, which also appear in Swift’s song.

The chorus to Braham's work, which predates Swift’s song by 11 months, features the line: “Haters gone hate, playas gone play. Watch out for them fakers, they'll fake you everyday.” Coincidence, or no?

Braham filed the documents in a federal court by himself, without the aid of an attorney, asking the court to waive filing fees on the basis that he hasn’t worked in nine years. He’s seeking damages of $42 million against Swift and her record label Sony, and also the right to have his name listed among the writing credits of ‘Shake It Off’.

Putting aside the lyrics, the two songs appear to have very little in common either in style or melody. Nevertheless, Braham believes that he has a strong case. Speaking to the New York Daily News on Monday (November 2nd) he claimed: “Her hook is the same hook as mine. If I didn't write the song ‘Haters Gone Hate’, there wouldn't be a song called ‘Shake It Off’.”

However, an intellectual property expert told CNN that he expects the court to give the case extremely short shrift, citing a large range of legal defences Swift’s team could use. “This case is going nowhere,” Michael Einhorn said bluntly.